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Matt Wallach outlines his favorite week 2 waiver wire pickups and adds for deep leagues, and AL-only or NL-only fantasy baseball leagues for the 2020 MLB season.
The first week of the Major League season is in the books, and fingers crossed, we get to finish out the rest of the season. There aren't many takeaways from just a handful of games, but there are still a good amount of players that are sitting the depths of the free-agent pool that deserve to be rostered. This is where this column comes in handy.
This will be a look at players that are under 15% rostered in Yahoo leagues that are options to be considered in deeper leagues, or in the case of the Year of Coronaball, injury replacements with upside that have the possibility of sticking on rosters even beyond a few games or couple of weeks.
Without further ado, time to get this started.
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Teoscar Hernandez (OF, TOR)
11% Rostered, Recommended Move: Add for the long haul
Big things were expected from the Blue Jays lineup coming into the season, but most of that hype was centered around players such as Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio, and Lourdes Gurriel Jr., which is definitely justified, but perhaps also made Teoscar Hernandez a bit undervalued. He posted 26 home runs in just 125 games last season, and was particularly much better after a stint in AAA, after which he really erupted with a .259/.346/.592 slash line thanks to superb barrel, exit velocity, and hard-hit rates.
He's gotten off to a powerful start in 2020, doubling twice in his first four games, and had a two-home run performance against the Nationals on July 27th. Hernandez is not a perfect player though, as he will be expected to strike out close to 30% of the time, but considering the league format and other options, Hernandez should be a nice, quality source of power, playing every day and hitting in a solid Major League lineup.
Asdrubal Cabrera (2B/3B, WAS)
11% Rostered, Recommended Move: Add for the long haul
We all might have expected Carter Kieboom to get the everyday third base role with the departure of Anthony Rendon, but thus far, it has been Asdrubal Cabrera getting the playing time, and it doesn't look like he is relinquishing it anytime soon. Cabrera, who has done nothing but hit for the Nationals since arriving in DC late in the 2019 season, has played in each of the Nationals first four games, while Kieboom has played in just one. He has earned it, as he has come out of the gates hot with a .308/.357/.615 line thus far.
Obviously, that type of performance is not going to stick, but he has definitely shown himself worthy of being in the lineup every day. As long as he continues to hit, he should be a nice option in deep leagues and should provide a decent batting average and an isolated power mark of around .200, which would definitely be nice coming for free off the waiver wire.
Nico Hoerner (SS, CHC)
5% Rostered, Recommended Move: Add and stash for a couple of weeks
One top prospect that, on the contrary, is in the lineup and playing mostly every day to start the season is Nico Hoerner. Hoerner has started three of the first four games for the Cubs, and with only Jason Kipnis to beat out for the position, appears to be in a good position to do so.
In a small sample in 2019, Hoerner had a respectable .282/.305/.436 triple slash in 82 plate appearances, with three home runs. His carrying tool as a prospect was his hit tool, with a chance to develop into some more power to go along with plus speed. Hoerner is currently getting the opportunity to prove himself, and is worthy of a speculative add. Fantasy managers may not want to start him right away, but with more good performances could be a nice breakout player this season. Hoerner currently only has shortstop eligibility, but should soon get second base eligibility. For now, stash him and monitor his progress.
Wilmer Flores (1B/2B, SF)
2% Rostered, Recommended Move: Add and stash for a couple of weeks
Flores was featured here last week and still remains incredibly under-rostered. The veteran infielder has hit either second or third in the first few Giants games and so far has hit .294/.294/.471 in the small sample, but the most important thing is that he is effectively locked into an everyday role for now.
Flores had some appeal as a streaming option against a run of left-handed pitchers, but now should see more intrigue as an everyday player. While he is definitely much better against lefties, he can hold his own against righties, with a 101 wRC+ against them in 2019. Managers may not want to immediately put him in their starting lineups, but keep in mind that the Giants are scheduled to play four games in Colorado starting August 3rd. A savvy manager may be looking at picking him up just for those four games, but an even savvier manager can jump the gun and pick him up now and stash him on their bench until that series.
Either way, with playing time locked in for at least the immediate future (we'll see what happens when the Giants get Brandon Belt and Evan Longoria back), Flores should continue to be a good option in deeper leagues.
Maikel Franco (3B, KC)
2% Rostered, Recommended Move: Add and stash for a couple of weeks
Franco is not going to be the most glamorous addition to a fantasy team, as it has been a couple of years since he last was a quality Major Leaguer. He is still someone to keep an eye on, though. He's hit two home runs through his first four games and has been in the lineup for the Royals each time they've taken the field.
His batted-balls have had an average exit velocity of 95.7 miles-per-hour thus far, with a hard-hit rate of 42.9%. While it is doubtful that he maintains this excellent start, Franco can be a sneaky source for power in deep leagues in 2020. The Royals will get a lot of favorable matchups thanks to their division and Franco has already taken advantage of it by feasting two homers against the Detroit Tigers to start the week. It would not be unreasonable to see Franco maintain an isolated power mark of around .200 over the course of a full season. While he won't walk a ton, he doesn't strike out a lot so there shouldn't be so much to worry about in that department.
Franco is definitely worth keeping tabs on and perhaps a speculative add, but if he continues to hit the ball well, he won't just be an option for deep leagues and may see himself become generally fantasy relevant in other formats.
Rowdy Tellez (1B, TOR)
1% Rostered, Recommended Move: Add for next week
We started with a Blue Jay and now we'll end with a Blue Jay; this time it's Rowdy Tellez. Playing time was the issue for Tellez this season, as the news of Guerrero moving to first base could have sapped some of his playing time. Those worries, for now, are dampened, as Tellez has started four of the first five games for the Jays. The Jays projected to face only right-handed starters for the rest of this week, with the caveat of us not yet knowing what is going with the Philadelphia Phillies that the Jays are scheduled to face this weekend.
Tellez as a hitter has shown plenty of power through parts of two seasons in the league, popping 21 homers in 2019 and a .614 slugging percentage in his small-sample 2018 debut. The constant for Tellez thus far in his career has been his ability to hit the ball hard, running hard-hit rates of at least 40% in 2018 and 2019, and a barrel rate of 13.2% in 2019 that was inside the top-10% of hitters. Tellez has struggled with strikeouts as well, but he didn't during his minors career, so it is possible that his 28.4% strikeout rate last season drops a bit. Looking for optimistic signs in that department shows that Tellez has only struck out twice through his first three games, but obviously, a larger sample is needed.
For fantasy purposes, Tellez should be an option when the Jays are scheduled to face a heavy amount of right-handers as a potential cheap source of power. Monitor how he does in those games. If he gets his strikeout rate under control, he can be more than just deep-league depth.
Looking Back on Last Week's Picks
From here on out, each week's post will end with a look back on the last week's options along with a brief recommendation on what to do with the said player for the future. Last week, there were a lot of extremely deep targets highlighted that could have taken advantage of some (in theory) favorable matchups to start the season. Some worked out, and some didn't, so let's review.
Jordan Luplow (OF, CLE)
Last week: 1% rostered. This Week: 1% rostered.
Luplow had some appeal last week with Cleveland facing multiple Kansas City lefties to start the season. He didn't actually play that much, getting just four plate appearances and not recording a hit. Cleveland doesn't have any other lefty-heavy matchups up on the docket, and Luplow isn't a lock for playing time as it stands. Current Recommendation: Drop.
Ryan McBroom (1B, KC)
Last week: 0% rostered. This Week: 0% rostered.
Like Luplow, this one pretty much fell flat. There was an opportunity for McBroom to get a longer look with Ryan O'Hearn out, but he didn't make the most of it, getting one hit in nine plate appearances. Now O'Hearn is back for the Royals and McBroom is nothing more than a platoon player. He still could be interesting, but not needed in fantasy right now. Current Recommendation: Drop.
Cameron Maybin (OF, DET)
Last week: 2% rostered. This week: 1% rostered.
Maybin had deep-league appeal when he was projected to hit in the leadoff spot for Detroit, but then the season came and Maybin found himself in the seven spot. Maybin was also just one for his ten, which isn't exactly worth rostering in this current state. He can still be fantasy relevant with good performance, but managers can pick him up later. Current Recommendation: Drop.
Jake Lamb (1B/3B, ARI)
Last week: 1% rostered. This week: 1% rostered.
Lamb, scheduled for primary playing time has appeal to see if this fully healthy version can bounce back to his heavy-power days of 2016 and 2017, and while he didn't get off to a great start, getting just one hit in the opening series against the Padres, he was facing some tough pitchers. The pitching matchups don't exactly get easier for the D-Backs, but managers can still hold Lamb to see what he can do, although it really is up to the situation. If there's a player out there better than Lamb on the wire, go for it. Current Recommendation: Hold.
Edward Olivares (OF, SD)
Last week: 0% rostered. This week: 1% rostered.
Olivares' main reason for being included last week had to do with the Padres facing two lefty starters and Olivares getting the favorable platoon matchup. He ended up only starting one of those two games against the D-Backs lefties, in which he hit a double and walked in his Major League debut. He's pretty much going to be used in a straight platoon role, and while the Padres are going to Coors this week, they're only lined up to face one lefty. Monitor when the Padres are set to face some lefties and Olivares may be a good streaming option, but for now, he's droppable. Current Recommendation: Drop.
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